1. A written requirement specification, signed by both sides
Ask for a functional specification that states what the equipment must do, not how it is built. At minimum it should fix the cycle time to be demonstrated, the materials and tolerances of the parts being processed, the utilities available at your plant (voltage, compressed air, water, network), and the footprint your floor can offer. Every claim later in the project traces back to a line in this document, so a specification written in adjectives rather than numbers will not survive an acceptance dispute.
Have both parties sign the specification with a date and a revision number. A supplier who resists signing the requirement document is telling you something about how the project will be run.
2. A design package for review before metal is cut
Request layout drawings, a 3D model or rendered views, and a bill of materials that names the brands and models of critical components: PLC, servos, drives, sensors, vision cameras, rails, guides, and safety devices. Buyers who accept an unnamed BOM routinely find that the machine arrives with parts their maintenance team cannot source locally.
Also ask for the electrical schematic and pneumatic circuit, a list of purchased standard parts with spare-part recommendations, and a short written description of the control logic — station sequence, interlocks, fault handling, and recipe structure. Reviewing these documents costs an afternoon. Discovering the same problems after assembly costs weeks.
3. A test plan that defines acceptance in numbers
Insist on a factory acceptance test (FAT) procedure written before fabrication begins, with each pass condition stated as a measurable value: cycle time over a defined number of consecutive parts, dimensional or process results against your part drawings, availability over a defined run, and the alarms and recovery behaviour expected from the control system. Then ask for a site acceptance test (SAT) plan that repeats the same conditions on your line, with your own materials and your own operators.
Payment milestones that sit behind FAT and SAT — rather than behind shipping — are the cheapest form of project insurance available to a buyer.
4. Documentation your maintenance team can act on
The delivery file should include an operation manual in the language your operators read, as-built drawings that match the machine you actually received, wiring diagrams, the PLC and HMI program or a documented backup procedure, a consumables and wear-parts list with part numbers, and a recommended preventive-maintenance schedule with intervals. Ask specifically whether the manual covers fault codes and their remedies, because this is the section a night-shift technician opens first.
5. Training, support terms, and change control
Ask what training is included, for how many people, and at what stage — operator training without a production-quality machine in front of it is largely wasted. Put the response time for support, the warranty period and its exclusions, and the price basis for post-delivery modification work in writing. On custom equipment, changes after the design freeze are normal; what damages budgets is an undefined hourly or daily rate for them.
6. A supplier who can build to your process, not to a catalogue
Non-standard work stands or falls on engineering capacity, so ask to see comparable projects the supplier has designed and delivered, and confirm who will own your project mechanically, electrically, and in software. Non-standard automation equipment and automated production line solutions are the areas Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment Co., Ltd. works in, alongside its cleaning equipment series; the company describes services covering product development, hardware testing, and integrated engineering team support for buyers who need the design work rather than only the machine.
A practical step before any purchase order: send the supplier your part drawings, target cycle time, and utility information, and ask them to return a draft specification and a preliminary layout. The quality of that first document tells you more than any brochure. Contact details and project inquiries are on the contact page of the site.
